Make48’s 48-hour TV maker competition going nationwide for Season 4; live events planned

It’s back to KC for Make48 as the reality competition for inventors heads home to film Season 4. 

“Our current coverage is over 90 percent saturation of American homes, so its getting some good traction,” Tom Gray, CEO of Kansas City-based Make48, said ahead of filming — which is slated for March 5-7, 2020, at Union Station. 

Rob Cecil, Outpost Worldwide; Brian Owen, ShopBot Tools; Cassandra Munoz, Make48; Mike Wunsch, Outpost Worldwide; Amy Gray, Make48; and Tom Gray, Make48

“One thing we’re really passionate about is not making people look silly on television or embarrassed — which is what a lot of television shows do on cable side,” Gray said, detailing reasons Make48 has found a strong partner in PBS, which has aired the series for three seasons. 

“We want to move towards education, so sticking with PBS and keeping it real, it gives us a really good trust factor compared to other outlets,” he added. 

Click here to read more about the series, including its most recent season, which took place in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Part of the maker-hub’s commitment to education also will include a new live event series that is expected to be open to the public, Gray announced. 

The first Make48 live event is set for May during the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. 

“There will be 15 to 20,000 people walking around that show and we’re positioning it so that it’s very educational for the person walking around to see what we’re doing,” Gray said, further explaining the event’s 48-hour format that challenges makers and creatives to roll up their sleeves and prototype a new product. 

Live events give fans of Make48 a shot at getting in on the action — when only a few are ultimately selected for the TV show, Gray added. 

“Outside people want to be involved — viewers want to be a part of this,” he said. “They’re asking, ‘How do we become a part of it?’ and they really can’t because we only do one a year. Its very limited. At least now we can go city by city for instance, if we want to expand that way. The maker movement of that city can come together.”

Taking the company’s commitment to education a step further, Make48 will release its blueprint in early 2020, enabling more than 27 colleges to host Make48 events and opening the format for use by cities in a way similar to a makers fair. 

“We had to get the show off the ground to a certain level before we could do any of this kind of stuff and to make sure that we’re on the right track,” he said. “With this demand [we think we are].”